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This study aimed to evaluate the outcome of patients with type 1 gastric neuroendocrine neoplasia (T1gNENs) treated with different endoscopic approaches.Patients were managed with endoscopic surveillance at regular intervals. Resection was performed by forceps or cold snare in tumours10 mm, otherwise mucosal resection (EMR) or submucosal dissection (ESD) were done.127 T1gNENs, detected in 80 patients, were included. 87.4% of them were5 mm, whereas 8.7% were 6-10 mm, 3.1% were 11-20 mm, and 0.8% was20 mm. Ki673%% was found in 85.8% tumours, whereas it was 3%-20% in the remaining 14.2% lesions. Noninterventional management (surveillance without radical resection) was performed in 15 patients (18.7%) with T1gNENs5 mm. None of them underwent disease progression during follow-up. among the 65 patients treated by radical endoscopic resection, 37 patients (56.9%) had disease recurrence. 48.5% T1gNENs were removed by forceps, 16.8% by cold snare, 31.7% by EMR and 3% by ESD. The recurrence rate was similar among the different endoscopic techniques used.The management of T1gNENs may be planned based on tumour size. T1gNENs5 mm for which the initial removal is not radical could be followed up by noninterventional endoscopic surveillance.

With the global COVID-19 pandemic, governments from many countries in the world implemented various restrictions to prevent the SARS-Cov-2 virus's spread, including social distancing measures, quarantine, in-home lockdown, and the closure of services and public spaces. This led to an in-creased use of social media platforms to make people feel more connected, but also to maintain physical activity while self-isolating. Concerns about physical appearance and the desire to keep or reach a muscular and toned ideal body, might have further reinforced the engagement in fitness-related social media activities, like sharing progresses in training achievements or following more fitness contents on popular profiles. To better understand the underlying relation among these factors, the present study investigates 729 responses to the Exercise Addiction Inventory (EAI), the Appearance Anxiety Inventory (AAI), the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS) and their association to social media usage and compares the results cross-culturally in five countries (Spain, Lithuania, United Kingdom, Japan, and Hungary). Findings highlight significant differences between males and females, espe-cially in regard to the time spent online (U = 477.5, p = 0.036). Greater levels of appearance anxiety were associated with the exposure to fitness-related contents on social media. These results strongly confirm the previously highlighted association between fitspiration media and body image anxiety predominantly in females. Clinical implications and future considerations in terms of prevention and treatment in a situation of global emergency are also discussed. Published version This publication is based upon work from the European Network for Problematic Usage of the Internet, supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology; CA16207). This research was also supported by Fundaç ̃ao para a Ciˆencia e Tecnologia (FCT) through R&D Units funding (UIDB/05210/2020). ZD’s contribution was supported by the Hungarian National Research, Development, and Innovation Office (KKP126835; K134807; ELTE Thematic Excellence Programme, 2020; KP2020-IKA-05). HF’s contribution was supported by “Grant-in-Aid” by the Smoking Research Foundation.

Background Autoimmune and multifocal atrophic gastritis (AG) are at risk for gastric neoplastic lesions. European guidelines recommend surveillance with high-quality endoscopy every 3 years. Aim To prospectively investigate the occurrence of gastric neoplastic lesions at the 3-year follow-up in patients with autoimmune and multifocal AG. Methods Longitudinal cohort study conducted between 2011 and 2019: consecutive patients with histological diagnosis of autoimmune or multifocal AG underwent follow-up gastroscopy 3 years after diagnosis with high-resolution-narrow-band-imaging endoscopes. Results Overall, 160 patients were included(F117(73.0%);median age 66(35–87)years). Autoimmune and multifocal AG were present in 122(76.3%) and 38(23.7%) patients, respectively. At the 3-year follow-up, 16(10.0%) patients presented 16 gastric neoplastic lesions: 3(18.7%) gastric cancers, 4(25.0%) low-grade dysplasia, 2(12.5%) low-grade dysplasia adenomas, 7(43.7%) type-1 neuroendocrine tumours. In these patients, OLGA and OLGIM III/IV stages were present in 4(25.0)% and 1(6.3%), respectively; 11(69.0%) presented autoimmune AG, and all but one(93.7%) had parietal cells antibodies positivity (p = 0.026 vs patients without lesions). All lesions were endoscopically(87.5%) or surgically(12.5%) treated with favourable outcome. Age>70 years was associated with a 9-fold higher probability of developing gastric epithelial neoplastic lesions (OR 9.6,95CI% 1.2–79.4,p = 0.0359). Conclusions The first endoscopic surveillance 3 years after diagnosis seems safe for autoimmune and multifocal AG patients and should be offered to elderly patients who are at higher risk for gastric neoplasia.

The unprecedented proliferation of novel psychoactive substances (NPS) in the illicit drug market has been a public health concern since their emergence in the 2000s. Their consumption can pose a severe health risks as their mechanism of action is poorly understood and their level of toxicity is high mainly due to the diffusion of very potent synthetic cannabinoids and synthetic opioids. This study systemically analyses the evolution of the scientific literature on NPS to gain a better understanding of the areas of major research interests and how they interlink. Findings indicate that the published evidence covers clusters focused on classes of NPS that have received widespread media attention, such as mephedrone and fentanyl, and have largely been concerned with the pharmacological and the toxicological profiles of these substances. This scientometric perspective also provides greater insight into the knowledge gaps within this new and rapidly growing field of study and highlights the need for an interdisciplinary approach in tackling the NPS epidemic.

Objectives: In the past months, many countries have adopted varying degrees of lockdown restrictions to control the spread of the COVID-19 virus. According to the existing literature, some consequences of lockdown restrictions on people’s lives are beginning to emerge yet the evolution of such consequences in relation to the time spent in lockdown is understudied. To inform policies involving lockdown restrictions, this study adopted a data-driven Machine Learning approach to uncover the short-term time-related effects of lockdown on people’s physical and mental health. Study design: An online questionnaire was launched on 17 April 2020, distributed through convenience sampling and was self-completed by 2,276 people from 66 different countries. Methods: Focusing on the UK sample (N = 325), 12 aggregated variables representing the participant’s living environment, physical and mental health were used to train a RandomForest model to estimate the week of survey completion. Results: Using an index of importance, Self-Perceived Loneliness was identified as the most influential variable for estimating the time spent in lockdown. A significant U-shaped curve emerged for loneliness levels, with lower scores reported by participants who took part in the study during the 6th lockdown week (p = 0.009). The same pattern was replicated in the Greek sample (N = 137) for week 4 (p = 0.012) and 6 (p = 0.009) of lockdown. Conclusions: From the trained Machine Learning model and the subsequent statistical analysis, Self-Perceived Loneliness varied across time in lockdown in the UK and Greek populations, with lower symptoms reported during the 4th and 6th lockdown weeks. This supports the dissociation between social support and loneliness, and suggests that social support strategies could be effective even in times of social isolation. Nanyang Technological University Published version This research is supported by Nanyang Technological University (Singapore) under the NAP-SUG grant to GE.

Approximately 20%-30% of infants cry excessively and exhibit sleep difficulties for no apparent reason, causing parental stress and even triggering impulsive child maltreatment in a small number of cases.

Social Media Disorder (SMD) is characterised by the intense and excessive use of social media. Although previous studies have shown that SMD was associated with poor mental health, research across types of usage and platforms remain limited. Here, we conducted an initial investigation of social media usage across platforms and its relation to anxiety, sleep and loneliness in female adolescents. Forty one 16- to 19-year-old British female adolescents were administered online questionnaires. Intensity of social media activity across Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter was measured with the Social Media Disorder Scale. Anxiety was indicated by the Beck Anxiety Inventory Trait, loneliness was examined via a short three-point questionnaire and sleep quality was measured via both the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and self-reported seven-day sleep diaries. Results showed that, compared to those without SMD, users with SMD experienced elevated levels of loneliness and had less sleep on average, and during the weekdays in particular. Only frequency of posting on Facebook, but not general usage, was associated with poorer sleep quality. These preliminary findings showed that social media disorder across platforms and usage could potentially have different associations to mental health and sleep. Published version

There is a growing body of research studying the impact sleep has on attention among typically developing (TD) children, but research is lacking among autistic children.The present study aimed to explore, for the first time, differences in (1) attention, (2) sleep parameters among primary school-aged Singaporean autistic children (N = 26) and Singaporean TD children (N = 20), and with UK autistic (N = 11) and UK TD children (N = 16), and (3) the impact of sleep on attention.Actigraphy was used to objectively assess sleep, and a Continuous Performance Task was used to measure attentional domains.There were inconclusive findings indicating that autistic children had poorer sustained attention than TD children. Although autistic children did not display more sleep difficulties than TD children, they showed shorter actual sleep duration (Singapore ASD = 7:00 h, UK ASD = 7:35 h, p .01) and longer sleep latency (Singapore ASD = 30:15 min, UK ASD = 60:00 min, p .01) than clinical recommendations. Sleep difficulties were also present among Singaporean and UK TD children. Both TD groups had less actual sleep duration than recommended (Singapore TD = 6:32 h, UK TD = 8:07 h). Singaporean TD children had sleep efficiency below recommended criterion (78.15%). Sleep impacted attention across all groups, but effects were different for autistic and TD groups.The study highlighted the importance for practitioners and carers to adopt a child-centred approach to assessing sleep and attentional difficulties, especially among autistic children due to the high variability in performance within the group. The impact of cultural and school-setting differences on sleep was also raised.

The increased popularity of social media has brought clinicians and researchers to question the potential problematic outcomes of such Internet-based applications. Over the past two decades, an increasing number of studies identified the so-called problematic use of social media (PUSM), which led to the development of various assessment tools requiring constant revisions because of the ever-evolving nature of the Internet. This review summarizes the most frequently used measurement tools in PUSM research while suggesting best practices and directions for future research based on the most recent evidence in the field.

Using a novel machine learning approach, we identify and prioritize in terms of predictive potency the top 10 distal causes of under-5 child mortality from almost 40 potential distal causes in more than a quarter of a million households in more than 25 low- and middle-income countries. Notably, all 10 distal causes are preventable and treatable through social, educational, and physical intervention. Thus, a unique contribution of our machine learning approach is to identify lesser-known preventable and treatable distal causes of under-5 child mortality that likely account for better-known proximal causes. Funding Statement: A.B. was supported by a Post-doctoral Fellowship within MIUR programme framework ”Dipartimenti di Eccellenza” (DiPSCO, University of Trento). G.E. was supported by NAP SUG 2015, Singapore Ministry of Education ACR Tier 1 (RG149/16 and RT10/19). M.H.B. was supported by the Intramural Research Program of the NIH/NICHD, USA, and an International Research Fellowship at the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), London, UK, funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 695300- HKADeC-ERC-2015-AdG). Computational resources were provided by the National Super Computing Center of Singapore (Project ID: 12001609; Computational study of Child Development in Low Resource Contexts). Declaration of Interests: The Authors declare no conflict of interest. Ethics Approval Statement: Ethics approvals were handled in each site in which data were collected.

Oxytocin plays an important role in the modulation of social behavior in both typical and atypical contexts. Also, the quality of early parental care sets the foundation for long-term psychosocial development. Here, we review studies that investigated how oxytocin receptor (OXTR) interacts with early parental care experiences to influence the development of psychiatric disorders. Using Pubmed, Scopus and PsycInfo databases, we utilized the keyword “OXTR” before subsequently searching for specific OXTR single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), generating a list of 598 studies in total. The papers were catalogued in a database and filtered for gene-environment interaction, psychiatric disorders and involvement of parental care. In particular, rs53576 and rs2254298 were found to be significantly involved in gene-environment interactions that modulated risk for psychopathology and the following psychiatric disorders: disruptive behavior, depression, anxiety, eating disorder and borderline personality disorder. These results illustrate the importance of OXTR in mediating the impact of parental care on the emergence of psychopathology. Accepted version

We hypothesized an association between auditory stimulus structure and activity in the brain that underlies infant auditory preference. In a within-infant design, we assessed brain activity to female and male infant directed relative to adult directed speech in 4-month-old infants using fNIRS. Results are compatible with the hypothesis that enhanced frontal brain activation, specifically in prefrontal cortex that is involved in emotion and reward, is evoked selectively by infant directed speech produced by female voices and may serve as a neuronal substrate for attention to and preference for “motherese” displayed by infants. Accepted version

Background: Developmental disabilities have been largely studied in the past years. Their etiological mechanisms have been underpinned to the interactions between genetic and environmental factors. These factors show variability across the world. Thus, it is important to understand where the set of knowledge obtained on developmental disabilities originates from and whether it is generalizable to low- and middle-income countries. Aims: This study aims to understand the origins of the available literature on developmental disabilities, keeping a focus on parenting, and identify the main trend of research. Methods and Procedure: A sample of 11,315 publications from 1936 to 2020 were collected from Scopus and a graphical country analysis was conducted. Furthermore, a qualitative approach enabled the clustering of references by keywords into four main areas: “Expression of the disorder”, “Physiological Factors”, “How it is studied” and “Environmental factors”. For each area, a document co-citation analysis (DCA) on CiteSpace software was performed. Outcomes and Results: Results highlight the leading role of North America in the study of developmental disabilities. Trends in the literature and the documents’ scientific relevance are discussed in details. Conclusions and Implications: Results demand for investigation in different socio-economical settings to generalize our knowledge. What this paper adds? The current paper tries to provide insight into the origins of the literature on developmental disabilities with a focus on parenting, together with an analysis of the trends of research in the field. The paper consisted of a multi-disciplinary and multi-method review. In fact, the review tried to integrate the analysis of the relation between developmental disabilities with a closer look at the scientific contributions to the field across the world. Specifically, the paper integrates a total of 11,315 papers published on almost a century of research (from 1936 to 2020). An initial qualitative analysis on keywords was combined to a subsequent quantitative approach in order to maximize the comprehension of the impact of almost a century of scientific contributions. Specifically, documents were studied with temporal and structural metrics on a scientometric approach. This allowed the exploration of patterns within the literature available on Scopus in a quantitative way. This method not only assessed the importance of single documents within the network. As a matter of fact, the document co-citation analysis used on CiteSpace software provided insight into the relations existing between multiple documents in the field of research. As a result, the leading role of North America in the literature of developmental disabilities and parenting emerged. This was accompanied by the review of the main trends of research within the existing literature.

Both expectations towards interactions with conspecifics, and genetic predispositions, affect adults׳ social behaviors. However, the underlying mechanisms remain largely unknown. Here, we report data to investigate the interaction between genetic factors, (oxytocin receptor (OXTR) and serotonin transporter (5-HTTLPR) polymorphisms), and adult interactional patterns in shaping physiological responses to social distress. During the presentation of distress vocalizations (cries of human female, infants and bonobos) we assessed participants׳ (N = 42 males) heart rate (HR) and peripheral nose temperature, which index state of arousal and readiness to action. Self-reported questionnaires were used to evaluate participants’ interactional patterns towards peers (Attachment Style Questionnaire, Feeney et al., 1994 [1]), and the quality of bond with intimate partners (Experiences in Close Relationships Scale, Fraley et al., 2000 [2]). To assess participants׳ genetic predispositions, the OXTR gene (regions rs53576, and rs2254298) and the 5-HTTLPR gene (region SLC6A4) were genotyped. The data set is made publicly available to enable critical or extended analyzes. Keywords: Adult interaction, Oxytocin receptor gene, Social abilities, Gene*environment, Physiological responses to social distress

Background Atrophic gastritis (AG) is at increased risk of gastric neoplasia, thus surveillance gastroscopy has been proposed. Aims To assess cost of detecting gastric neoplasias by surveillance endoscopy according to identified risk factors in Italy. Methods Post-hoc analysis of a cohort study including 200 AG-patients from Italy followed up for a mean of 7.5 (4–23.4) years was done. Considered risk factors were: age >50 years, extensive atrophy, pernicious anaemia, OLGA-OLGIM scores 3–4 at diagnosis. The number of 4-year-surveillance endoscopies needed to be performed to detect one gastric neoplasia (NNS) was calculated. Results In 19 patients neoplasias (4 gastric cancers, 8 type 1 gastric carcinoids, 7 dysplasias) were detected at the 361 surveillance gastroscopies, corresponding to NNS of 19 and a cost per gastric neoplastic lesion of €2945. By restricting surveillance to pernicious anaemia patients, reduction of NNS and cost per neoplasia to 13.8 and €2139 may be obtained still detecting 74% of neoplasias. By limiting the surveillance to pernicious anaemia patients and OLGA 3–4, 5 (26.3%) neoplasias would have been detected with a corresponding NNS of 5.4 and a cost per lesion of €837. Conclusion Risk factors may allow an efficient allocation of financial and medical resources for endoscopic surveillance in AG in a low risk country.

Humans are inherently social beings, whose behaviour is regulated by multiple interactions between genetic predispositions and environmental influences [1]. In-person social interactions represent the first mean to share ideas and make comparisons with others. Nowadays, communication has rapidly spread trough new environments like social networks sites (SNSs). However, the quality and the frequency of online and offline interactions may vary across individuals. In this research, we probed these differences in online interactions through the lens of behavioural genetics. Our question was if the personal expectations of social behaviour could affect the frequency in the online sociability of users genetically sensitive to experiences [2]. Accepted version

Background Corpus atrophic gastritis (CAG) may lead to intrinsic factor (IF) deficiency and vitamin B12 malabsorption. Intrinsic factor autoantibodies (IFA) are considered markers of pernicious anemia, but their clinical utility in CAG has not been evaluated. This study aimed to assess IFA in CAG patients and controls using a luciferase immunoprecipitation system (LIPS). Methods Recombinant nanoluciferase-tagged IF secreted from transfected Expi293F cells was used as antigen in an IFA-LIPS assay. IFA IgG were measured in sera from subjects undergoing gastroscopy and biopsy (updated Sydney system) mainly for anemia (57%) or dyspepsia (34%). This cohort comprised 105 patients with histologically-proven-CAG (cases: median age 64 years, 68% females) and 110 subjects with suspected CAG that were histologically negative (controls: median age 67 years, 54% females). Cut-off values were selected by Q-Q-plot analysis (negative, Highlights • A novel diagnostic autoantibody test for intrinsic factor autoantibodies using a LIPS in histologically-proven CAG patients and controls. • This assay discriminated between patients and controls with a good specificity and a relatively low sensitivity that reflects the likely low prevalence of intrinsic factor antibodies in CAG. • Positivity occurred independently from anemia and vitamin B12 deficiency. • Intrinsic factor antibodies should be assessed in patients at high clinical suspicion of CAG.

Background The use of social media is popular in the health and the beauty industry, with an increasing number of brands using web platforms to promote their products. Among the recently-emerged trends, “fitspiration” (also abbreviated as “fitspo”) has raised health concerns. Evidence suggested that fitspiration contents, although originally conceived to promote a healthier lifestyle, often portray distressful themes that can lead to unhealthy thoughts and behaviours (e.g., body image and eating disturbances, excessive exercising, misuse of supplements). Despite its popularity, the knowledge on this trend is limited and relatively few studies explored its psychological impact on young people below 25-year-old. Methods A narrative literature search was conducted in order to provide an overview of the evidence linking fitspiration trends on social media to mental health disturbances. Results Various factors related to psychopathological risks have been associated with the exposure to fitspiration contents, which we have clustered in the following main topics: (i) exercise addiction and compulsive exercise; (ii) body dissatisfaction and objectification; (iii) appearance-related anxiety and depressive symptoms, self-esteem; (iv) excessive control of eating habits; (v) use of enhancing drugs; (vi) quality of life. Conclusion A wide range of negative psychological effects associated with fitspiration contents on social media were identified. Additional research is required to further elucidate the phenomenon, to determine the extent of the harm for young people, and to develop preventive mental health strategies.

In humans, as in other animal species, early caregiver-infant interactions influence physiological and psychological processes by modulating brain sensitivity. Furthermore, early social interaction between caregiver and infant influences infants’ cognitive and socioemotional development, and subsequently the development of social, familial, and romantic relationships later in life. Here, we have collected longitudinal and cross-sectional empirical studies as well as review and perspective articles that focus on human or non-human mammals with the aim to investigate how genetic, hormonal, behavioural, and environmental factors, as well as cultural contexts, regulate early interactional experiences, and how these experiences translate into social and non-social competences later in life (see Graphical Abstract). Accepted version

This study aimed to understand how different mother-infant sleeping arrangements impact infants' self-regulation, particularly their calming response. Thus this study investigated the effect of three prevalent mother-infant sleeping arrangements, co-sleeping (CS), sleeping beyond arm's length from their mother (BAL), and solitary sleeping (SS), on infants' physiological calming through self-regulation during a nap session in 24 infants (50% female, M = 1.85 months SD = 0.93 months), who were identified as either regular co-sleepers with their mothers, infants who slept in the BAL sleeping arrangement from their mother, and infants who are solitary sleepers (SS). The effect of all three sleeping conditions amongst all the three types of infants with different habitual sleeping arrangements was assessed. All infants spent 10 min (2 × 5 min sessions) in each sleeping condition (CS, BAL, SS) during which electrocardiographic recordings were collected to obtain interbeat intervals (IBI) and rMSSD, a measure of heart rate variability (HRV) an index of physiological calming, maintained by the parasympathetic pathway involved in self-regulation. Infants who regularly co-slept with their mothers had the highest IBI, indicating greater physiological calming and self-regulation across all sleeping arrangement conditions (CS, BAL, SS), followed by infants who regularly slept in the BAL sleeping arrangement from their mothers. IBI was lowest amongst regular solitary sleepers, potentially indicating physiological stress due to mother-infant separation. However, HRV indices during the sleeping arrangements (especially across regular solitary sleepers) were inconclusive as to whether the lack of change in HRV across all sleeping conditions was due to physiological stress responses or greater physiological regulation. This study is the first to investigate the effect of manipulated and habitual mother-infant sleeping arrangements on infant physiological calming. Ministry of Education (MOE) Nanyang Technological University Accepted version This research was supported by NAP SUG 2015 (GE), Singapore Ministry of Education ACR Tier 1 (PS and GE), Social Science Research Thematic Grant (MOE2016-SSRTG-017, PS), the Intramural Research Program of the NIH/NICHD, USA (MHB), and an International Research Fellowship at the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), London, UK (MHB), funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 695300-HKADeC-ERC-2015-AdG).

Consistency in the order of individuals in a group across short periods of time-reliability-is both important developmentally and meaningful psychologically. For example, documenting the reliabilities of infant behaviors and maternal parenting practices elucidates the nature and structure of early development. In this prospective short-term longitudinal study (Ns = 51 5-month infants and their mothers), we examined reliabilities of individual variation in multiple infant behaviors (physical development, social interaction, exploration, nondistress vocalization, and distress communication) and maternal parenting practices (nurturing, encouragement of motor growth, social exchange, didactic interaction, provision of the material environment, and speech to infant). Medium to large effect size reliabilities characterize infant behaviors and maternal parenting practices, but both betray substantial amounts of unshared variance. Established reliability is essential to the application of these measures in infancy studies, it is central to replication, and it is a limiting factor in predictive validity. Accepted version This research was supported by the Intramural Research Program of the NIH/NICHD, USA, and an International Research Fellowship at the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), London, UK, funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 695300-HKADeC-ERC-2015-AdG).

Mother-child bonding influences the development of cognitive and social skills. In this study we investigate how maternal attachment, developed in early childhood, modulates physiological responses to social stimuli later in life. Our results suggest that the autonomic nervous system’s responses to vocal distress are moderated by the quality of participants’ maternal bonding. In particular, participants with optimal maternal bonding showed a greater calming response to distressful stimuli whereas participants with non-optimal maternal bonding showed a heightened distress response. Accepted version

Developmental outcomes are determined by the interactions between myriad factors operating at many different levels (Bronfenbrenner, 1992; Sameroff, 2009). Broadly speaking, these factors may be related to the genetic background of the individual (genotype) as well as from the external world (environment) with which the individual interacts. During development, the interaction between genotype and environment (Genotype × Environment or G × E) is paramount to the ontogeny of the specific phenotype, which is the set of observable characteristics of the individual. Indeed, one way to conceptualize the diverse array of resulting phenotypes is as the result of different genotypes responding to environmental variation in different ways. Accepted version

Understanding early episodes of cry is essential to improve caregiver–child interaction and child well-being. Caregiver perceptions of cry are based on interpretations of different acoustic characteristics of the cry, including the length of the pauses, the number of utterances, and the fundamental frequency. In this study, we used tree-based models to establish a hierarchy of effect in terms of how these acoustic characteristics influence perceptions of cries of children with autism compared to cries of typically developing children. In two studies, one in Italy and the other in Japan, we found that cries of children with autism are perceived more negatively. We also found that the length of the pauses, more than the number of utterances or fundamental frequency, determines listeners’ negative perceptions. Implications for early caregiver–child interactions are discussed.

The human infant face represents an essential source of communicative signals on the basis of which adults modulate their interactions with infants. Behavioral studies demonstrate that infants' faces activate sensitive and attuned responses in adults through their gaze, face expression, voice, and gesture. In this study we aimed to identify brain responses that underlie adults' general propensity to respond to infant faces. We recorded fMRI during adults' (non-parents) processing of unfamiliar infant faces compared to carefully matched adult faces and infrahuman mammal infant and adult faces. Human infant faces activated several brain systems including the lateral premotor cortex, supplementary motor area, cingulate cortex, anterior insula and the thalamus. Activation of these brain circuits suggests adults' preparation for communicative behavior with infants as well as attachment and caregiving. The same brain regions preferentially responded to human infant faces when compared to animal infant faces, indicating species-specific adult brain responses. Moreover, results of support vector machine based classification analysis indicated that these regions allowed above chance-level prediction of brain state during perception of human infant faces. The complex of brain responses to human infant faces appears to include biological mechanisms that underlie responsiveness and a caring inclination toward young children which appear to transcend adult's biological relationship to the baby.

Aims: A number of studies have suggested the importance of motor development in autism. Motor development has been considered a possible bio-marker of autism since it does not depend on either social or linguistic development. In this study, using retrospective video analysis we investigated the first unsupported gait in toddlers with autism. Methods: Fifty-five toddlers, belonging to three groups were recruited: toddlers with autistic disorder (AD, n = 20, age 14.2 mo, sd 1.4 mo) and as comparison groups: typically developing toddlers (TD, n = 20, age 12.9 mo, sd 1.1 mo) and toddlers with non-autistic developmental delays of mixed aetiology (DD, n = 15, age 13.1 mo, sd 0.8 mo). The Walking Observation Scale (WOS) and the Positional Pattern for Symmetry during Walking (PPSW) were used to gather data on the first unsupported gait. The WOS includes 11 items that analyze gait through three axes: foot movements; arm movements; general movements while the PPSW analyses static and dynamical symmetry during gait. Results: Our results have identified significant differences in gait patterns among the group of toddlers with AD as opposed to the control groups. Significant differences between AD and the two control groups were found for both WOS (p < .001) and PPSW (p < .001). Conclusion: The specificity of motor disturbances we have identified in autism (postural asymmetry) is consistent with previous findings that implicated cerebellar involvement in the motor symptoms of autism.

The aim of this study was to compare functional features of maternal and paternal speech directed to children with Down syndrome and developmental age-matched typically developing children. Altogether 88 parents (44 mothers and 44 fathers) and their 44 young children (22 children with Down syndrome and 22 typically developing children) participated. Parents' speech directed to children was obtained through observation of naturalistic parent-child dyadic interactions. Verbatim transcripts of maternal and paternal language were categorized in terms of the primary function of each speech unit. Parents (both mothers and fathers) of children with Down syndrome used more affect-salient speech compared to parents of typically developing children. Although parents used the same amounts of information-salient speech, parents of children with Down syndrome used more direct statements and asked fewer questions than did parents of typically developing children. Concerning parent gender, in both groups mothers used more language than fathers and specifically more descriptions. These findings held controlling for child age and MLU and family SES. This study highlights strengths and weaknesses of parental communication to children with Down syndrome and helps to identify areas of potential improvement through intervention.